Christian McBride Trio - Live At The Village Vanguard 180g 2LP

Christian McBride Trio – Live At The Village Vanguard

Track Listing

The trio's acoustic, funk-filled sound is also a treat to hear on analog vinyl!

It is fitting that the four-time Grammy Award-winning Christian McBride would eventually record at the Village Vanguard, the most hallowed and historical nightclub in jazz: an underground Mount Olympus where the gods and titans of the music "from John Coltrane to Bill Evans" have cast their syncopated spells.

"You can literally feel the ghosts of all of the legends that played there," McBride says. "You feel Coltrane hovering in the vortex. You feel Monk hovering in the vortex. Miles Davis, Mingus...you feel all of that in the air."

Recorded over three consecutive nights in December of 2014, Live at the Village Vanguard showcases bassist Christian McBride and his trio in concert at the storied New York venue. A four-time Grammy winner, McBride has been a superstar in the jazz world since debuting as a teenager in the late '80s.

Here, McBride is joined by his trio bandmates, pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. This is the same outfit that recorded the swinging, sophisticated 2013 studio album Out Here. As with that release, Live at the Village Vanguard finds McBride diving headlong into a set of swaggering, lively standards, originals, and unexpected covers, including a take on the theme to the cult '70s comedy film Car Wash.

This record is the fruit of McBride's long association with the Vanguard, where his first appearance as a leader for the historic club was in 1995. In 2007, the bassist and charismatic club owner Lorraine Gordon started an annual one-week residency, which featured McBride's quintet, Inside Straight.

When Philadelphia-born bassist/bandleader Christian McBride arrived in New York in 1989 as a Juilliard student, he was the 'Godchild of the Groove' with unlimited potential. Today, with over 300 recordings as a sideman and 11 critically-acclaimed albums as a leader, he now reigns supreme as the "Lord of the Lower Frequencies." He's the influential and ubiquitous bassist of his generation, as evidenced by his quintet Inside Straight, his big band, his trio and his work with everybody from James Brown, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis to Sting, The Roots, Bruce Hornsby and Paul McCartney.

Release Information

Label: Mack Avenue Records

Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, 180 gram Gatefold

Country: US

Released: 2016

Genre: Jazz